The Turk
by the7joker7
Summary: The richest, most powerful man on earth wants to 'change the world' with his latest creation. A wonderful, beautiful, awful, terrible creation that causes Ash to question all he knows. Can he come to terms with it?


The Turk

--

Summary: The richest, most powerful man on earth wants to 'change the world' with his latest creation. A wonderful, beautiful, awful, terrible creation that causes Ash to question all he knows. Can he come to terms with it?

--

Alright, so, I've been out of Pokemon for awhile in terms of...well, fanfics, the show, the games...pretty much anything, but I like to jump around from time to time. So here I go.

Hmm...I know you all like to know about coupling and such, so...I suppose I'll say I can get behind AAML generally. Beyond that, I can say I don't really know or care, but I'm open to whatever, so we'll see if I even get into couplings at all.

Now, I'm using the old school crew because I'm old school like that. Ash, Misty, Brock. It was best that way, should have stayed that way, and I'm going with it.

As for what to expect in terms of objectional content...I'll try and keep things a G as possible. This fic is supposed to deal with a theme that might be beyond some younger people, but it's not inappropriate.

That being said, this fic contains some satirical, parody-esque humor, and what might be taken as breaking the fourth wall. So that might fly over some people's heads, but again, I think most ages could handle this.

And I don't own...any of this, obviously, so credit to those who do.

--

Chapter One: How the other half lives

"Okay, okay. Bela Lugosi was in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein with Vincent Price, who was in The Raven with Jack Nicholson, who was, whaddya know, in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon!" Ash exclaimed finally. "See, told you, can't beat me. Still the king."

"Wonderful. An entirely useless and wholly unimpressive talent you have there, Ash." Misty countered, her eyes half closed. "I mean, you here what they're paying Six Degrees experts these days?"

"You're just saying that because you couldn't even get Val Kilmer." Ash retorted, continuing the brisk pace down the dirt path before them. "It doesn't get much easier than Val Kilmer, that's like two degrees."

"Oh look." Brock interuptted as signs of civilization began to appear over a crest in the path. "Another town. I'm sure we'll go on another minor adventure that resolves itself in about twenty minutes, perhaps meet a few people we'll never see again for the rest of our lives, probably watch Team Rocket attempt some ridiculous evil plot and stop them within a couple minutes, and go on, perhaps taking a moment to mull on the life lesson we learned." Brock spoke quickly, nodding his head to himself.

Ash and Misty stared up at him, lips pursed in minor confusion. "You feeling alright?" Ash asked after a few uncomfortable moments.

"Oh yeah. Sure." Brock replied airily. "Nothing wrong with that."

--

"So, Odell city, is it?" Ash restated, glancing over a large paper map creased with square patterns caused by being folded up for a long period of time. "What goes on here?"

Misty and Brock both suddenly glared up at him from across the white plastic table they were seated at in the outside seating section of a local cafe. "What goes on here?" Misty repeated. "Really now, Ash?"

"...well, if you don't know, you can just say so." Ash said, still staring at the map. "You don't have to be so-"

"Ash, you ever pick up a newspaper?" Brock asked dryly. "I dunno, watch the news...see an advertisement...anything like that?"

"Sorry, I'm kinda stupid. Remember, I stopping going to school at ten. I didn't even get through the fourth grade." Ash replied. "Really, I don't know much of anything."

"Yeah. Isn't that weird? I mean, they actually let these...nine, ten year old kids decide if they want to spend the next decade in school working themselves to death for no pay or immediate benefits, or if they'd rather go out, travel the world, and raise cute and or powerful monsters on the way." Misty added. "That's kinda terrifying."

"Yeah. Scary." Ash concurred, nodding. "Anyway, what's the big deal with Odell city?"

"Well, it's actually fairly small." Brock began, matter-of-factly. "The actual city part, anyway. You have your usual shops, restaurants, pokemon center...about seventy three percent of the land is owned by one man, in fact."

"Seventy seven." Misty corrected, holding her right index finger up. "He recently bought the playground."

Ash nodded, pursing his lips. "That's intriguing."

"The entire west side of town is basically a palace." Brock continued. "You should see it. I've seen pictures. The guy lives like one of those sultans or pharoahs back in the day."

"And hey, it goes well beyond the city." Misty continued. "He owns hundreds of acres of land all over the world. He has his hand in a bit of everything. Pokemon centers, he funds some gyms, police stations, pokemon breeding centers, major tournaments...you name it, he has a good chunk of change invested in it."

"Hell of an engineer, programmer and inventor." Brock mentioned. "The pokedex, video phones, pokeballs...just about anything you can imagine, if he didn't have a hand in inventing or developing it, he probably manufacturers it."

"Yeah, okay, I get it." Ash interrupted. "He's filthy rich."

"Quite." Misty agreed. "In fact, Odell city plays host to the wealthiest man on the planet. Anthony Lewis."

"I gotta be honest with you." Ash said flatly. "If it doesn't involve pokemon, I really don't care."

"Oh, he trains. I mean, maybe not in the traditional way, but he has pokemon that he trains and fights." Brock stated. "Maybe not his primary concern, but hey."

Ash nodded slowly. "Interesting. What is he? One of those...snobbish types who doesn't want to associate himself with the dirty commoners? Because if there's no chance of meeting this guy and challenging him, I'd probably rather just move-"

And then, quite suddenly, a large shadow loomed over Ash, spilling down onto the table in front of him. As he was looking down, he noticed this sudden unexplain change in the sunlight that didn't seem to affect anything else. As was only natural, he turned quickly around to come face to face with a large man.

He was very much the stereotypical bodyguard, the archetype that most people envisioned when they thought of a secret service agent or a club bouncer. He was tall, probably over six and a half feet tall. He was also quite the mass horizontally, but it didn't appear to be fat. His attire also pounded his likely profession home, with his black pressed suit and sunglasses.

"Can I...help you?" Ash asked slowly, looking him up and down.

"Hello." He said slowly. "Welcome to Odell. Have a seat."

"Erm-" Ash grunted in response, looking around him to make quite sure that he was, in fact sitting down.

"Please sit down, sir." The man reinterated.

"I-" Ash began, not quite sure how to explain this without perhaps insulting this man, who he'd really rather not insult.

"Look, you should really, _really_ just...sit down." He said again, as monotone as he was when he started.

Ash couldn't do much more than blink, dart his eyes to the left and right, and hope this intimidating figure was gentle. "C-"

Suddenly, the large man leaned back slightly and broke out into a small smile. "Just playing with you. Yes, I'm fully aware you're sitting down already."

Ash threw a glance back at Misty and Brock, eyes narrowed. He then quickly turned back to the large man. "...good. Very good."

"Now, sir." He said, his mouth flattening back out again. "This is your first time in Odell, correct?"

Ash nodded slowly, trying to keep his responses as basic as possible.

"And you do train pokemon in pursuit of the vague goal of being a 'Pokemon Master'?" He inquired.

Ash again nodded, giving a wan smile for half a second before it disappeared.

"I see." He looked around slowly, robotically. "You like challenges? Something new? Different, maybe?"

"Sure." Ash replied. "Well, maybe. What do you mean, exactly?"

"Come with me." He said, spinning around on his heel. "Are you at all familiar with Anthony Lewis?"

"I know of him." Ash replied. "Why?"

"Would you like to meet him?"

--

Wondering how they had managed to get so lucky, Ash, Misty and Brock trailed behind the large man down the urbanized concrete road that possessed an endearing rustic quality to it due to the lack of activity. They had been to perhaps hundreds of towns and cities before, many of which were urban jungles, and it was expected that moving through them would be like swimming through a river of people. And to see the doors on any of the buildings that lined the streets not swinging open or closed was about as common as a comet sighting. Yet here, the population was well spread out. Just looking at the sparsely populated street and peaceful, quiet atmosphere gave it the rich feel of one of those small towns where everybody knew everybody.

"Sure is peaceful for a city that plays host to the richest man on the planet." Ash commented, feeling slightly more comfortable with this guy. At the very least, he was pretty positive he wasn't going to lead him into a back alley and engage in acts unspeakable, in any case.

"Over the years, people have learned it's best to live away from Lewis." The large man replied. "He's been buying pieces of the town for his own purposes ever since he took up residence here. Only a matter of time before he owns the whole place, most people decided to get out early."

"Well, that's just a little...cold-hearted." Misty said offhand.

"He didn't exactly take a wrecking ball to their houses or anything." The man replied. "In any case, just relax. He's a nice guy, I'm sure he'll make sure you enjoy your stay here in Odell so long as you're reasonable."

"What interest could he possibly have in us?" Brock couldn't help but inquire.

"It'll be clear very soon." He assured. "Again, I'd rather not be the one to tell you."

--

It was something close to comical, really. Outside, in the traditional town area of the city, it almost looked like a country village. Just very quiet and traditional, out of some sort of a movie set perhaps.

And then...well, you had Anthony's place of residence. Ash sat on a powerfully red couch in the middle of a large, opulent room, eyes fluttering from one shiny, magnificent feature of the room to another. The large, red drapes to his left looked disturbingly inviting. He felt tempted to jump up and go wrap himself in them, but...well, that would look strange. The bookcase on the wall adjacent to those made him feel uncomfortably inferior. Like he was in the presence of someone who actually read books once in awhile. It was quite unsettling. And those big, fat books with gold lettering and big block colors really intimidated him. Then, as he went further right, he got a true idea of the scope of the room. It was massive. He was afraid to look up, as he had a slight phobia about high ceilings. But he couldn't resist a quick glimpse up at the chandelier, golden, bright as the sun, and shimmering. And the horizontal aspect of the room was impressive as well, he wouldn't be terribly surprised if he could fit his bedroom back home in here eight, ten times over in this room alone.

A massive, wooden door, engraved with various designs and symbols that made no sense to him, noiselessly rotated open, and instantly the three on the couch turned their attention to what it might reveal.

He wasn't quite what you might expect. You'd assume, first of all, that the richest man in the world would be old. They had already known that he was, in fact, fairly young, but to see it was a surprise. Ash was left to estimate, but Brock and Misty recalled from some past news bulletin or article that he was twenty-six.

He was fairly tall, not physical imposing, but tall fit him well. He wore a cummerbund and dress pants, the dinner jacket that would typically go over the cummerbund perhaps discarded on the back of a chair somewhere. He had black hair that was quite short, perhaps a shade or two messier than would be expected of someone of his stature. A small hint of the orient crossed his features, revealed some degree of asian heritage mostly stuck in a sea of American. He was good looking, Ash was comfortably enough with his heterosexuality to think that much.

"The robot is going to lose." He began, slowly strolling across the carpet towards the couch.  
Not by much. But when the final score is tallied, flesh and blood is going to beat the damn monster." He finished, whirling around and falling back down on the couch on the right end, next to Ash. "Adam Smith. Welcome." He extended his hand towards Ash, obviously beckoning for a handshake in return. Ash sat their, blinking dully for a second or two, before quickly extending his own hand out for the shake to commence.

"...nice to meet you as well." Ash finally said, not quite sure how to react to this odd greeting.

"Yes. I wish that one day I could meet myself, so I could find out just how nice it is to meet me. But I guess I'll just have to take your word for it." Anthony replied. "In any case, glad you could come."

"Well, how could...we say no to an offer like this?" Brock commented, feeling a tad ignored.

"Brock...Harrison, is it?" Anthony asked. "Yes, I know you. Know OF you, I suppose would be more accurate." He nodded. "How is the family?"

"Oh. Well, good, I imagine...I don't really call in that often or check in or anything, but-"

"And...Misty Waterflower?" He moved on rapidly, making his lack of interest in Brock's family apparent. "Yes, your sister's told me quite a bit about you."

Misty's face went blank. "My sister?"

"Oh yes. I suppose many people don't know...come on in." He said, turning his head back towards the wooden door, still hanging partially open.

To the surprise of our trio of heroes, a familiar face came through the threshold and around the giant wooden slat. An attractive girl, slightly taller than was what considered normal among females, with cascading golden hair and a pale white complexion and fit swimmer's body came into the room, a big, carefree smile on her face as she looked over Ash, Misty and Brock. She herself was wearing a small, white jacket over what appeared to be a one-piece swimsuit, along with short, teal green shorts and slightly worn looking white flats.

"Hey guys!" Daisy said energetically, walking towards them quickly. "What are you guys doing here?"

The question would have been a little more sensible, Ash thought, if asker and askee flipped around. After all, while she had never been a terribly responsible gym leader, she was supposed to be the sister who provided the voice of reason to her fellow sensationals. The (relatively) level headed one who prevented the gym from shutting down entirely. If she was all the way out here, what could her sisters possibly be doing?

Naturally, this raised the question of what, exactly, she was doing out here. She was something of a celebrity, so servant work didn't seem feasible, and he doubted Anthony had use for teenage valley girls on his staff of scientists or engineers, unless Daisy kept a degree or two hidden somewhere. He supposed it wasn't impossible they were friends who just happened to decide to meet at this particular time, or that he had developed some new technology involving water pokemon or water shows and wanted the sisters to give it a go, but the most likely scenario involved...

"Well..." Ash managed, not quite sure how to answer that. After all, he was on a worldwide tour, in essence, on his pokemon journey, and hopping from place to place was perfectly natural as far as he was concerned.

"Daisy, what are you doing here?" Misty said flatly, scowling. Her concern was for the gym, which was already on shaky ground as is.

"Oh, come on! I asked first." She responded playfully.

"Nothing." Misty responded, again as flat as she could make her voice. "Nothing at all. Now what are you doing here?"

Daisy gave a promiscuous smile before responding. "Anthony."

"Yes?" Anthony responded, not looking, his head turned to the left, looking out the massive window to the outside.

"No no, I'm answering her question." Daisy said innocently.

"Wait...what-" Misty started, the cogs in her head pumping and turning about, trying to piece together what Daisy had just said with her question. "...oh." Her featured softened instantly. "_Oh._"

What else was there to say?

"Don't worry about your gym." Anthony said quickly. "Me and Daisy have discussed the issue with the Pokemon League. It's quite illegal for a pokemon gym to fail to meet any challenges put forth by trainers. And let's face it, Lily and Violet won't last a day in prison-"

Misty may or may not have been listening to Anthony's reassurances, but if she was, she didn't seem to find it terribly reassuring, because she slowly began to lop over to her right, eyelids fluttering. Her head found a resting place in Ash's lap, black overtaking her vision slowly.

"What's up with her?" Ash asked, oblivious to either the implication Daisy had made or it's serious-ness.

"I've been known to have a...certain impact on people." Anthony said smoothly, his head now turned back to the people before them.

--

"You mean to tell me, you're in a serious relationship with the richest, most powerful man on the planet, and you didn't even stop for a second to tell your sister?" Misty asked incredulously, having been awakened by Ash and Brock, now sitting up, still somewhat wide eyed and shocked.

Daisy shrugged. "It's not like you phone in and tell us what's going on with you guys. I mean, like, ever."

"Oh yeah, that'd just be great." Misty responded sarcastically. She lifted her hand up to the side of her head, pinky and thumb stretched and the three middle fingers balled into a fist, giving the rough impression of a phone. "Hello Daisy!" Her voice was high and false sounding. "Guess what we did today? We were walking around, and we met this guy. Or maybe it was a girl, I don't remember. Anyway, he, or she, had this random problem with something, and for whatever reason we took time out of our busy schedule to help solve it. And get this, we managed to resolve everything and make a lifelong friend, who we will coincidentally never see again, all in 22 minutes! And guess who showed up again to try and stop us but Team Rocket! And we totally learned something along the way about friendship! Or trust. Or honestly. I don't remember. Anyway, see you later!" She put her hand back down into her lap. "Riveting stuff there! Far more interesting than hooking up with one of the greatest minds in the last century!"

She gave another naughty smile. "Misty, please. I'm not exactly hooking up with his mind." She gave a tiny giggle.

"The sentiment is returned, tenfold." Anthony said casually. Daisy just sat there, smiling, unaware that she might have just been insulted.

"Four months, eh?" Brock repeated. "That's...reasonably serious."

"Oh yes. It's very serious." Daisy replied, nodding her head. "No one night stands over here."

Anthony gave a small chuckle from his throat at this comment, but quickly moved on. "In any case, I suppose you might be wondering why I called you here."

Ash snapped back into focus. He had almost forgotten that they had been, in fact, called and escorted here for reasons unknown. "Yes. Yes, why might that be? Sir." He said quickly.

"Well, Ash, here's how it is. I want you, and your friends if that's what you'd like, to stay here, on Lewis Manor, for...well, as long as you want. I want you to stay in the guest rooms, which are probably bigger than your house back in Pallet. I want you to call the butlers a thousand times a day and piss them off, knowing they can't do anything about it. I want you to push the button that says 'Do Not Push' and watch as my grand piano gets crushed under the weight of the original Indiana Jones rolling boulder. I want you to stay here so long as you stay in this town, and enjoy yourself, however you might go about enjoying yourself." He sat back against the couch, smiling smugly, waiting for a response.

Ash opened his mouth to say something, then slowly nodded. "...yeah...can I get back to you on that? I dunno, I might have to think about that..." he said comically. "Sounds like a sweet deal to me!"

"See, Misty? Having a celebrity sister does pay off!" Daisy pointed out.

"Yes. Almost makes up for having an airhead sister." Misty said pointedly.

"Oh...Lily's just young, don't be mean." Daisy replied, again oblivious to the veiled insult.

Misty gave a very quick and small smile and Daisy before turning towards Anthony. "And now, Mr. Lewis, maybe you'd like to tell us what you want from us?"

"Not biting on the celebrity sister bit?" Anthony asked, nodding his head slowly.

Misty shrugged. "You seeked us out. Daisy didn't know we were here, clearly. Thus-"

"Yes yes. I see your point." Anthony interrupted. "Actually, you are indeed correct. I called you three here for a reason. Well, I suppose I called one of you here for a reason." He looked hard at Ash.

Ash slid slightly to his left, away from Anthony, slightly perturbed. "...hey, I didn't do anything!" He said defensively, holding his palms out towards the multi-billionaire.

"Here's the deal." Anthony began, ignoring Ash. "You're a trainer. A fairly good one as well, with a fair amount of prestige. Perhaps not celebrity status, but you've made a name for yourself."

Ash slowly put his hands back down, his guard stomped into submission by these compliments from such a powerful man.

"You've also never been to Odell before in your life." Anthony continued.

"You seem to know quite a bit about Ash." Brock commented. "You some sort of stalker?" He asked, half-jokingly.

Anthony smiled, closing his eyes before responding. "Your best bet is to assume I know everything, Brock. For most people's purposes, one way or another, I do." He turned his focus back to Ash. "Now, being as you fall under those two categories, you are exactly the person I am looking for."

Ash blinked away a few beads of sweat, his mind racing with fantasies of what Lewis might have in store for him. Would it be good, or bad? Hard or easy? Long or short? Legal or-

"First and foremost, Ash, I want you to enjoy what I have to offer. My manor and all that comes with it, for a few days. See how the other half lives. And, as a trainer, I'm sure you'll be very interesting in the training and breeding grounds I have in the back. You'll have the chance to see, and battle, against some very strong pokemon there. It's not too well known, but I do some training of my own as well." He winked. "Now, you go ahead and enjoy all that...but before you leave here, there's something I need you to do."

"Name it." Ash said quickly, feeling comfortable that the request would not be anything too outlandish.

"I have...this friend. And he's a...trainer...as well." Anthony began, his eyes darting back and forth as the words slowly formulated in his mouth. "He really does like to battle. He's become extremely good at it. In fact, he fancies himself the finest in the world. Over the years, he's defeated...thousands of trainers. But, sadly, in recent times, the challengers have not been showing up." He paused for a moment. "Fear of losing, perhaps, or perhaps they simply aren't interested in fighting a battle they can not win. Either way, it's been some weeks..."

Brock and Misty turned to look at each other, nodding their head in silent understanding, putting the pieces of his speech together. Ash, unsurprisingly, didn't even know there was a puzzle in the first place.

"...so, I open my abode to you, and before you leave, I want you to battle my...friend." Anthony finished, sitting back against the couch.

Ash shrugged. "Sure." He said casually. "Of course I can do that. That's easy...that's my passion, my life-"

"Wonderful!" Anthony exclaimed. "I think that's all I have to say...so run along and do whatever you'd like! I think you'll find I have just a little bit of everything here." He glanced down at the floor quickly. "And, ah...when you get the chance, find me so I can give you a more detailed explanation of my friend." He stood back up. "It's best I show you, I think."

"You really don't know what he's talking about, do you?" Misty whispered as Anthony left the room the same way he came in.

"Sure I do." Ash said defensively. "He has a friend who's a really good trainer, and people are afraid to fight him. So he wants me to fight him. Get with the program Misty, he said it nice and slow." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah..." Misty made a rapid clicking noise with her tongue. "You have no idea who he's talking about, do you?"

"Well, of course not! How could I, we haven't even been introduced yet. His friend could be anyone!" Ash responded bluntly. "What, do you know something?"

Misty gave a small smile that quickly faded. "I'll let Lewis explain it to you. It is probably best that he shows you."


End file.
